The Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Dedicated to the history of ice hockey, it is both a museum and a hall of fame. It holds exhibits about players, teams, National Hockey League (NHL) records, memorabilia and NHL trophies, including the Stanley Cup. Originally in Kingston, Ontario, the Hockey Hall of Fame was first established in 1943 under the leadership of James T. Sutherland. The first class of honoured members was inducted in 1945, before the Hall of Fame had a permanent location. It moved to Toronto in 1958 after the NHL withdrew its support for the Kingston location. Its first permanent building opened at Exhibition Place in 1961. In 1993, the Hall was relocated to a former Bank of Montreal building in Downtown Toronto, where it is presently located.

An 18-person committee of players, coaches and others meets annually in June to select new honourees, who are inducted as players, builders or on-ice officials. In 2010, a subcategory was established for female players. The builders' category includes coaches, general managers, commentators, team owners and others who have helped build the game. Honoured members are inducted into the Hall of Fame in an annual ceremony held at the Hall of Fame building in November, which is followed by a special "Hockey Hall of Fame Game" between the Toronto Maple Leafs and a visiting team. As of 2011, 251 players (including two women), 100 builders and 15 on-ice officials have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame has been criticized for focusing mainly on players from the National Hockey League and largely ignoring players from other North American and international leagues.

A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field. The meaning of "Fame" has changed over the years, originally meaning "renown" as opposed to today's more common meaning of "celebrity".

In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or museums which enshrine the honorees with sculptures, plaques, and displays of memorabilia. Sometimes, the honorees' plaques may instead be posted on a wall (a '"wall of fame") or inscribed on a sidewalk (a "walk of fame" or an "avenue of fame"). In others, the hall of fame is more figurative, and just simply consists of a list of names of noteworthy individuals maintained by an organization or community.

The English-language term was first used for the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College, in New York City, although its inspiration, the Ruhmeshalle in Munich, Germany, also means "Hall of Fame". The Walhalla Temple in Bavaria, Germany, is an even earlier hall of fame, conceived in 1807 and built between 1830 and 1842.

Adam Oates (born August 27, 1962) is a retired professional ice hockey and lacrosse player and is currently an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils.

Oates' break came when Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute offered him a scholarship. He played three seasons (1982 to 1985), where he majored in management and was the leading scorer on RPI's 1985 NCAA Division I championship team. Oates eventually graduated with a management degree from RPI in 1991. As of the end of the 2004–05 season, Oates still held school records for most assists in a season (60, 1984–85), most points in a season (91, 1984–85), and most career assists (150). He is third on the school's all-time list for most assists per game (1.53) and tied for third all-time in career points (216).

After Rensselaer's NCAA championship season, Oates signed as an undrafted free agent with the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League, with the richest rookie contract up to this time at $1 million over four years. Although the team's second centreman behind Steve Yzerman, Oates solidified his reputation as an elite NHL playmaker with the Red Wings, and by his last season with the club 1988–89 he was scoring at an almost assist-per-game pace. Oates was traded to the St. Louis Blues after the season, along with Paul MacLean, for Bernie Federko and Tony McKegney.

Frederick Alexander "The Fog" Shero (October 23, 1925 – November 24, 1990) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, coach, and general manager. He played for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL). However, he spent most of his playing career in the minor leagues. Following his playing career, he went into coaching, spending 13 years coaching in the minor leagues before making it to the NHL. As an NHL head coach, Shero won the Stanley Cup twice with the Philadelphia Flyers (1974 and 1975) and reached the Stanley Cup Finals three times in Philadelphia (1974, 1975, and 1976). He also had four consecutive seasons of having a 0.700 or better winning percentage and remains the Flyers all-time leader in coaching victories. Shero controversially left the Flyers following the 1977–78 season to become the head coach of the New York Rangers, whom he led to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first season. He resigned from the Rangers after coaching for less than three seasons. Shero had a unique style of coaching that led to several innovations that are still used today. He was the first coach to hire a full-time assistant coach, employ systems, have his players use in season strength training, study film, and he was one of the first coaches to utilize a morning skate.

Mats Johan Sundin (Swedish pronunciation: [mats sɵndiːn]; born February 13, 1971) is a retired Swedish professional ice hockey player. Originally drafted first overall in 1989, Sundin played his first four seasons in the NHL with the Quebec Nordiques. He was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1994, where he played the majority of his career, serving 11 seasons as team captain. At the end of the 2007–08 NHL season, Sundin had been the longest serving non-North American born captain in NHL history. Sundin last played for the Vancouver Canucks in the 2008–09 season before announcing his retirement on September 30, 2009. Consecutively he played 13 of his 18 NHL seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He appeared in the NHL playoffs in 10 seasons.

Excluding his rookie season, the shortened lockout season and his half season with the Vancouver Canucks, Sundin scored at least 70 points in every season of his career, played at least 70 games in every season, and led the Leafs in points in every year he was with the team except 2002–03, when Alexander Mogilny beat him by seven points. On October 14, 2006, Sundin became the first Swedish player to score 500 goals. He is the Leafs' franchise all-time leader in goals (420) and points (984). Over his career, Sundin averaged just over a point per game (1349 points in 1346 NHL games).